Pteranodon
Pteranodon is a large flying reptile. When it spread its wings, it could reach from the front to the back of a school bus. It did not have feathers, but rather had a basal type of integument along the same lineage from which feathers evolved, called pycnofibers. Pycnofibers were very hair-like in appearance and, like hair, were made of keratin. Members of the Pterosaur order lived through much of the Mesozoic, some species of Pterosaurs with wingspans close to 11 m (36 feet). Pteranodon males had a wing span of 5 metres (16 feet), while females had a wing span of 3 meters (10 feet), making the males one of the largest Pterosaurs found. Pteranodon means "toothless wing", but in spite of this, it appears with teeth in one of the movies. It probably used the long crest on the back of its head to help it steer while flying. The movement is still some debate about whether these reptiles could actually fly or if they were primarily gliders, but the consensus seems to be that they could take off with little or no wind. Their diet was fish and scavenged remains of dead marine animals. Quite a few Pteranodon skeletons have been found in Kansas in the central part of the U.S. This would have been the shore of a shallow sea when these creatures were alive, supporting the theory that they were fish eaters. Story Creation Pteranodon was successfully recreated by InGen in their lab on Isla Sorna where they were fed and parented in captivity being raised in the Isla Sorna Aviary. There were four variations of the cloned Pteranodon, which all had abnormal features that their original counterpart lacked. However, there were common characteristics exhibited in the clones such as a lack of pycnofibres on their bodies, which all pterosaurs had, was adapted to different regions than the original, and the ability to use their hind legs for grasping. They did not appear to have any sexual dimorphism. The geneticists probably removed sexual dimorphism from the recreations because they wanted all the clones to born female and Pteranodon's famous crest belonged only to males in the genus. The variation that was seen at the end of The Lost World: Jurassic Park had many characteristics of birds that can be seen in its bipedal gait and neck posture with a hooked beak. Their bodies were black with the wing membrane being tan and the back of the wings being dark brown. Their heads were blue with a yellow beak. The second variation that was the most commonly encountered and retained the quadrupedal gait of the pterosaurs, but it had teeth lining its beak, great strength, and feet like a bird of prey as well as having a lifestyle just like one. They laid an estimate of six eggs and their young was able to fly at an early age, but it seemed to be limited so the juveniles could not hunt for themselves, requiring an adult to fetch them their food. This variation of Pteranodon had a color scheme consisting of tan and brown, but also had splotches of black on the tips of its wings and on its beak. This variation was also larger than the real Pteranodon by having a 32 ft wingspan, which is nearly the size of the largest pterosaurs Quetzalcoatlus and Hatzegopteryx. The third variation was an actual species that existed before the cloning process named Pteranodon sternbergi, which has since been reassigned by some recent work in 2010 to a separate genus, Geosternbergia, though this recent revision isn't universally accepted within the scientific community. It too had a hooked beak like the first variation. The fourth variation from Masrani's Jurassic World park were more close to the original animal, lacking teeth and the females lacking crests that were the size of the males. However, they still could use their feet to grab objects like the clones. Their bodies were gray with their heads being either dark red or blue and had an orange wing membrane. These new Pteranodon clones are also shown to have the ability to dive and swim underwater, similar to modern day seabirds. Wild on Isla Sorna When Hurricane Clarissa stuck Isla Sorna the InGen personal fled the island. Some of the Pteranodons were either freed by the workers or broke out of their cages themselves, but a population of Pteranodon was still kept inside the Isla Sorna Aviary. The bird-like variation took residence in the southwest while the variation with teeth were only known to the southeast with an isolated population still living in the Aviary. The pterosaur was the largest flying animal known on Isla Sorna. The cloned pterosaurs combated the Lysine contingency by eating animals (such as some types of fish and even territorial vertebrates) rich with Lysine. By 2001, there were four Pteranodon adults and six juveniles living in the Isla Sorna Aviary. At some point, the family encountered a human as evident by the human remains in the nest in Jurassic Park III. It is unknown who this person was and if he/she was even alive when the Pteranodons found him/her. Isla Sorna Incident (2001) The Pteranodon family living in the Isla Sorna Aviary had a major skirmish with the surviving humans involved in the incident. One of the adults detected the human visitors' presence in its enclosure as they crossed the bridge that connects the observatory to the Isla Sorna Aviary so they could get in the barge below. The adult pterosaur decided to land on the bridge when it was Eric Kirby's time to cross. Eric let out a scream of terror just before breaking into a sprint when the Pteranodon emerged from the thick fog that was surrounding the back of the laboratory to the front of the aviary. The large pterosaur responded by snatching Eric Kirby and flying off as his group were racing towards the situation. The pterosaur carried the young human to a rock platform near its nest that was filled with baby Pteranodons chirping out of hunger. With the hungry babies setting their sights on him, leaving Eric to quarrel with the Pteranodons. Eventually, the juvenile Pteranodons swarmed around him, but there was hope for Eric because Billy Brennan descended towards the nesting area to save the boy using the recovered paraglider of the now deceased Ben Hildebrand and was calling to him. The baby Pteranodons bit tightly on Eric Kirby's jacket, focused on the appeal rather than their main target, allowing Eric to use this to his advantage by giving his jacket over to the hungry Pteranodons and leaping to a platform behind him afterward. Though as soon as he reached his destination he found there was nowhere else to flee to, allowing the juvenile pterosaurs to continue attacking him. Thankfully for Eric Kirby, Billy Brennan was coming close to the stone platform that he was on, wanting Eric to jump to him. Eric was eager to escape his attackers so he swiped the Pteranodons off of him and he successfully clinged to Billy soon afterward. The Pteranodon juveniles ceased their pursuit as Eric Kirby drifted away with his rescuer, but there was one that continued the chase and managed to grasp itself onto Eric's back. However, the pterosaur's grip was not very firm and it soon fell off as Billy made sharp turns as he glided. Despite being rescued by Billy Brennan, the boy was not safe from danger. As the two paraglided three adult Pteranodons followed them with one making a minor tear in their parachute. This attack made Billy demand Eric to let go of him and to jump safely into the water below. Concurrent to the events mentioned above, Dr. Alan Grant, Amanda, and Paul Kirby were racing through the aviary's walkway trying to reach Eric. But they were put to a halt when they reached a section of the walkway that was completely missing. This gave an adult Pteranodon the chance to strike them. It tried getting through the open passageway, but its large wingspan and head crest wouldn't allow it to fit through. So it decided to fly up and land on the top of one of the sections of the passageway that was slightly damaged and slide its beak through hoping to bite one of the fleeing humans. Because of its weight, the roof of the passage collapsed, getting the Pteranodon inside the walkway. As the flying reptile cornered its prey to the end of the hallway, the section they were in collapsed from the added weight of the pterosaur, plunging both the humans and the Pteranodon into the water below. The pterosaur quickly reached by emerging to prepare itself for flight, but was pushed back into the river by the falling segment it unwillingly helped detach. As Billy Brennan glided away from any of the airborne reptiles chasing him, his paraglider became snagged on a bulging nearby rock face. With their prey in a weak position, two Pteranodons began to circle around him like buzzards, preparing to strike. Billy freed himself by removing his harness and fell into the riverbank below, but he was not free from the sight of the Pterosaurs. Dr. Alan Grant and Paul Kirby, who had just reached dry land, reunited with Eric Kirby, and were watching Billy from afar, rushed to rescue him. Once they reached Billy's position, a Pteranodon snatched him, but it lost grip of its prey seconds after grabbing him, only for a second Pteranodon to pin him to the rock bed of the river. Though, like the previous attack, Brennan broke free from his attackers' grasp. As he was attacked by the pterosaurs, Billy demanded to the two group members of his not to try saving him. After one final plea, the two pterosaurs that had pursued Billy relentlessly assaulted him at the same time and proceeded to viciously maul him as his body drifted down the river. However, Brennan somehow survived the lacerations the Pteranodons gave him and he was later rescued by the Marines at the end of the incident. A third Pteranodon began to chase Dr. Alan Grant and Paul Kirby as Billy was mauled. But when it tried to snatch one of the humans they both took a dive into the deep waters of the river where they swam to the barge and the rest of their group. The Pteranodon followed in pursuit but was blocked by one of the metal walls of the Aviary. While the two men went to save Billy, Eric and Amanda Kirby unlocked the door to the Isla Sorna Aviary to escape it. After the two unlocked the door, Amanda soon relocked it, though unknown to her it soon reverted back when she and the other survivors rushed to get to the boat. The three Pteranodon adults escaped their enclosure after the humans had left. For some reason they abandoned their young, this could have been because they didn't know how expansive the world was outside of the Aviary or they thought the fourth Pteranodon would take care of the juveniles, which seems unlikely after the section of the walkway fell on it. The survivors and the Marines/Navy who had rescued them saw the three pterosaurs as they flew away from Isla Sorna. When asked by Dr. Grant why the flying reptiles were leaving their home, Dr. Grant suggested that they were looking for new nesting grounds. The survivors hardly showed concern for the escaped pterosaurs, being more focused on the joy of being rescued. The escaped Pteranodons traveled a long distance, reaching Canada before they were "cleaned up" by Vic Hoskins and his InGen Security Division team. How the situation was handled impressed Simon Masrani who had bought out InGen several years before and had plans to make his own dinosaur park. He decided to appoint Vic to a high position in the InGen Security Division with the hopes that he would reinvent the security firm. Jurassic World Pteranodon was recreated by InGen a second time for Masrani Global Corporation's new dinosaur park Jurassic World. Despite their aggression, they seemed to be comfortable with living alongside the smaller Dimorphodon inside the Jurassic World Aviary. A humorous incident once occurred at Jurassic World when a Pteranodon stole a man's hat. Isla Nublar Incident (2015) After the hybrid Indominus rex escaped from its enclosure, it ran into the aviary while being pursued by the JW001 helicopter. A group of Pteranodons attacked the helicopter, killing the two Asset Containment Unit troopers on board and causing it to crash into the enclosure. The ensuing explosion killed Simon Masrani, who was piloting the helicopter, and allowed the residents of the aviary to escape. A mixed flock of Pteranodon and Dimorphodon then flew into the Main Street of the park and attacked the human visitors in the area. One Pteranodon grabbed Jurassic World employee Zara Young where she was briefly flung among other Pteranodons until she was ultimately dropped into the Jurassic World Lagoon where the Mosasaurus lived. While in the water several Pteranodons dived to retrieve her. When one of the pterosaurs finally grabbed her, the Mosasaurus inside the lagoon saw the Pteranodon flying over her territory and proceeded to consume the large pterosaur whole, killing Zara in the process, who was in the grip of the Pteranodon. Another Pteranodon nearly crushed Gary and Zach Mitchell after it was tranquilized while in flight and crashed to the ground below. The flock was eventually subdued by park rangers and Owen Grady after they entered the area with tranquilizer rifles. Another mixed flock was present in the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo where they also attacked the people there as well as the juvenile animals. After the incident, Pteranodons were seen roaming the skies freely, now having become wild. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom It is revealed that there are surviving Pteranodon populations on Isla Nublar, although they will now face an impending danger, alongside many other creatures, in the form of an erupting volcano. Pteranodon were first seen flying over Owen Grady as he was searching for the Velociraptor Blue. More are seen flying off the island during the Eruption of Mt. Sibo. At least three Pteranodon were captured and taken to Lockwood Manor, but they escaped along with the rest of the animals with the help of Claire Dearing and Maisie Lockwood. One individual attempted to carry off a mercenary who is then dropped onto a car, killing him. Three Pteranodon were later seen on the miniature Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas during the post credits scene. Category:Jurassic Park Category:The Lost World: Jurassic Park Characters Category:Support Characters Category:Animals Category:Pterosaurs Category:Species Category:Quaternary Characters Category:Neutral Characters Category:Prehistoric Category:Live-action Characters